NEW YORK - MLS has announced the promotion of Mark Abbott to President of Major League Soccer. Abbott, MLS's longest serving executive, was elevated to the new position during the meeting of the MLS Board of Governors on March 8, 2006.
In his new role, Abbott oversees all business operations for MLS and Soccer United Marketing. His responsibilities include supervising the broadcasting, legal and finance departments at the MLS League office. Along with MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Abbott is the league's primary contact in discussions with potential investors and expansion cities.
The League headquarters' primary liaison to the MLS Board of Governors, Abbott has been involved with Major League Soccer since its inception. MLS' first employee in 1993, Abbott was the principal author of the league's business plan, ultimately approved by FIFA as a legacy of World Cup USA 1994, the most successful World Cup in history.
Prior to his promotion, Abbott served as the Chief Operating Officer of MLS. He played a primary role in creating the League's structure and negotiating with the initial investor-operator group. Before joining MLS, Abbott, a 1986 graduate of Georgetown University and a 1989 graduate of the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, practiced law as an associate at Latham & Watkins, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and commercial law.
